HICs
Over the past three decades, considerable evidence of the
benefits of CR for patients with CHD has mounted. Documented
benefits of CR are based on findings of eight metaanalyses
ofrandomisedclinicaltrials (Table 1),whereoutcomes
among CR participants are compared with participants
exposed only to usual care [10–17]. These have shown participation
in CR reduces mortality and morbidity, promotes a
healthy lifestyle, favourably modifies risk factors, and
improves health-related quality of life. Further, a recent overview
of six CR meta-analyses including 71 randomised clinical
trials showed that exercise-based CR reduces all-cause mortality
by a mean of 19%, cardiac mortality by a mean of 20%, reinfarction
by a mean of 15%, and hospitalisation by a mean of
31%, and had significant positive changes in total cholesterol,
triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure among patients with
CHD [18].
Mortality and Morbidity
The effectiveness of CR in reducing mortality in patients
with CHD has been studied widely since the late 1980s
(Table 1) [10–17]. CR significantly reduced all-cause mortality
by 13%-26% and cardiac mortality by 20%-36% among patients
with CHD (Table 2) [10–17]. In a recent observational study